Plant identification focus of March 3 webinar

COLLEGE STATION – Plant identification will be the topic of a March 3 natural resources webinar conducted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service ecosystem science and management unit.

The webinar is a part of the Texas Range Webinar Series scheduled the first Thursday of each month from noon to 1 p.m., said Pete Flores, webinar coordinator in Corpus Christi.

This month’s presenter is Dr. Barron Rector, AgriLife Extension range specialist in the ecosystem science and management department in College Station.

“Plant identification is a skill that is acquired by only a few but is very important in this era as land-use changes, and thus impacts, are created by human decisions and activities,” Rector said.

“Plant identification remains important because organism change can assist with our ability to determine if the direction of change is healthy, unhealthy or puts us at risk.”

Rector said this webinar will center on identification tips of the fifth-largest family of plants in Texas, the Euphorbiaceae or spurge family. The family contains herbs, shrubs and trees but is noted for having all unisexual flowers, meaning the flowers only have pistils or stamens.

Common examples of this family will be used in the discussion, he said.

Participants seeking Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units must pay a $10 fee on the website. For all others, there is no fee, Flores said.